Manual Backup

You can create individual account backups from with cPanel by going to Backups, then Generate/Download a Full Backup. This creates a cPanel backup package, usually labeled something like:

backup-Userame-2007-02-10_11-50.tar.gz

This file contains all your public_html files, all the MySQL databases for that account, all the email addresses/forwarders and any email not already downloaded, and the cPanel config files to tell the server how to put it all back together.

However, this is a manual process, suitable for the occasional backup for a site that doesn't change regularly.

For an unmanaged VPS, you will want to set up the server to automatically create regular account backups.

WHM Configuration

First, decide where to backup the files. WHM allows you backup to the local filesystem, a Coda or NFS directory share, or a remote FTP server.

In WHM navigate to Backups and then Configure Backup. Select the following options as shown below:

Backup Status: Enabled
Backup Interval: Daily
Backup Retention: Weekly Monthly
Days to run backup: Select all of these.
Remount/Unmount backup drive: Disabled
Bail out if the backup drive cannot be mounted: Disabled
Incremental backup: Disabled
Backup Accounts: Enabled
Backup Config Files: Disabled
Sql Databases: Per Accounts Only
Backup Raw Access Logs: Disabled

From here, you'll need to decide whether you are backing up to a local filesystem or a remote FTP server.

Local Filesystem

Open an SSH window to your server as root and then create the backup directory:

mkdir /backup

Then, return to the Configure Backup screen:

Backup Type: Standard
Backup Destination: /backup
Note: ignore the five FTP options.

FTP Backup

You'll need an FTP account on a remote server somewhere for this. If you want to purchase space on A Small Orange's backup server, send a ticket requesting it. The cost is $10 per 10GB per month.

Continue with the Configure Backup screen:

Backup Type: Remote FTP Server
FTP Backup Host: IP address of the backup server
FTP Backup User: FTP username
FTP Backup Pass: FTP Password
FTP Backup Directory/Path: (leave blank)
Use Passive Mode: Disabled if using A Small Orange, Enabled if using another service.
Backup Destination: (leave blank)